At The Seams
by slytherinrules85
Summary: Vala Mal Doran didn’t do sentimental.
1. Where's Minnesota?

**Title:** At The Seams

**Author:** slytherinrules85

**Disclaimer:** I don't own it.

**Summary:** Vala Mal Doran didn't do sentimental.

**Spoilers:** Anything and everything is game.

**Author's Note:** This is the companion fic to _Without Leave_, my SamJack fic. This is pretty undecided as to pairing – probably DanielVala, but maybe something else (which will be developed). Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Vala Mal Doran didn't do sentimental.

She told herself as she walked towards the Stargate – behind what _had_ to be the biggest Jaffa she'd ever seen, and she'd seen quite a few – that going to see that delectable Daniel Jackson on his planet was _not_ sentimental.

Not at all.

"So, darling," she said to the Jaffa – oh, what was his name? Tor'c? Ty're? it was definitely something with a superfluous apostrophe – "is Daniel seeing anyone?"

"I believe DanielJackson sees many people," replied the big man. Teal'c! That was it. Ah, that made sense. Teal'c the shol'vah was known to be an ally of the Tau'ri. Though it didn't make sense that he was sent to fetch people, like a common messenger boy.

"Oh," she replied, feeling mildly deflated. If he was seeing people, why send for her?

Teal'c paused as he dialed the gate. "I believe I may have misunderstood your question, ValaMalDoran. DanielJackson is indeed not seeing anyone romantically."

"Oh!" she gave him a toothy grin. "So he's asking me to visit him for a holiday, then?"

"Indeed." Teal'c pressed the center button and the wormhole whooshed into life, but he didn't pay attention and instead pressed a number sequence into a device on his wrist (as a habit, Vala memorized it – 763092854).

"Lovely," she said, to fill the silence as they walked towards the event horizon. "It's getting so hard to find a vacation spot where I'm not wanted nowadays." The Jaffa turned back to raise an eyebrow. "Ah, nevermind." She gave him a tiny push. "Gentlemen first."

The eyebrow went up again, but he went through the event horizon first and she followed a second or two later.

* * *

When she saw Daniel, she couldn't control the grin that broke out over her face. Internally, she was scolding herself for being so, so… so _giddy_. But before that registered with her conscious brain she had slipped past Teal'c (who somehow had become 'Muscles' to her) and up the stairs into what must be their version of a Control Room – as an intergalactic thief and businesswoman extraordinaire, she learned to recognize such things quickly – to drape herself dramatically over a blinking panel and smile in her most charming manner at Daniel Jackson. 

What passed after that was rather tedious – except for the part where she felt Daniel up and then got invited to Minnesota, wherever that was – and as she was escorted to the – what was it they called it? ah, yes – the _infirmary_, she asked Daniel a barrage of questions about this Minnesota. What sort of place was it? Were there stores? Did these stores have leather? What about treasure? Was there any? How much was there? Was it well-guarded? He grew very annoyed with these questions – she had no idea why, honestly, weren't they normal questions? – and eventually told her, very impolitely, to shut up.

She took offense at that. But by that time, she was in the infirmary, where a small imposing doctor-healer type made her sit on a rather uncomfortable white bed while she examined her.

It was really too much to bear sometimes.

* * *

A few mornings later – after she had gone over (quite cheerfully, she thought, for the manner in which she was spoken to and for her rather _stark_ surroundings) some details with the Goa'uld's recent movements and suchlike – she found herself an ally in her newfound quest to see more of this world of the Tau'ri. A rather unexpected ally. One she would have never predicted, in fact. 

She found an ally in Samantha Carter. The blond astrophysicist joined her in telling Daniel that, really, if Vala was going to accompany them to this 'Minnesota', she could not – simply _not_ – wear the clothing she had brought with her. (Of course, Vala assured them all that leather was appropriate garb in _all_ occasions, but neither one would listen to her.) So she waved Daniel's American Express at him, Sam smirked, and finally Daniel relented.

"Fine," he muttered. "But we're not getting you a ton of stuff! _If_ you stay, you won't be leaving the base that often."

"Wonderful, darling," Vala crooned, tugging his shirt down a bit. He glowered at her a bit before realizing she was just adjusting it to look nicer. His eyebrows went up in surprise for a moment before he resumed the glower.

"And absolutely, positively _no_ leather," he said firmly. Her mouth fell open. She was that shocked.

"_Darling_," she said, which was all she could eek out of her vocal chords.

"My one rule," he said in the same tone as before.

She cast about. "Not even… not even a jacket?" She gave him her best wide-eyed, damsel-in-distress look. It didn't work. Damn.

"Maybe. If Sam approves it." He glanced at his watch. "I really have to finish those translations. Sam, if you could…?"

"Oh no," Sam said, grinning at him. "You're coming with us. You have to help too. And besides, when was the last time you left the base?" Daniel muttered something that sounded like 'last Thursday'. "You see? Come on. It'll be fun. We can get ice cream!"

"Ooh, sounds like _fun_," he told her, not even trying to hide the sarcasm. Vala chose to ignore it.

"I bet it does, darling," she told him, looping her arm through his. "But what, exactly, _is_ ice cream?"

He groaned and then launched into a full-scale explanation. As he went on about the history of this 'ice cream', Sam leaned over and whispered to Vala, "You're not actually listening to this, are you?"

Vala shook her head happily. "Why would I, darling? I just came to _see_ Daniel and perhaps something a little more enjoyable than that-" she grinned toothily "-not listen to him go on and on about some dessert. Does he do this often?"

"Talk about ice cream? No."

"No, darling," Vala said, in a tone as close to exasperation as she ever had, "go on and on like this."

"Oh. Yes. Yes, he does," Sam replied, looking somewhat uneasy at saying this about her friend.

"Wonderful," Vala said, smiling. "I do so love it when he goes on and on like this – or I can tell that I _will_. I suppose he'll be happier when I tell him about a treasure I heard about, though."

"What treasure?" the other woman asked as the rounded the corner to the elevator.

"Oh, nothing," Vala replied airily. "You'll find out."

"Were you even _listening_?" Daniel said to her, annoyed written all over his face.

Vala gave him an 'I'm The Most Innocent Person You'll Ever Meet, Why Are You Being Such A Jerk?' look. "Of course, darling."

"Then what did I just say?" He gave her a smug look, knowing she wouldn't be able to repeat it. She was like the female version of Jack: show her something shiny and she'd be distracted for half an hour.

"Something about the mythology surrounding the invention of the waffle cone and the nineteen-twelve World's Fair," Vala told him as Sam swiped her I.D. through the elevator security. "Though I have no idea what either of those things are."

Now it was his turn to have his mouth fall open as Sam laughed at him while they got into the elevator.

"I think," Sam said, pressing a button on the elevator's wall, "that's the first time that's happened."

Vala grinned at Daniel, smugly. "I'm surprised," she said, her tone lofty, "I was sure your Jack had bested him at least once. He seems that sort of man."

"Jack?" Daniel snorted. "That's funny."

"You'd probably be surprised," Vala and Sam said – completely by accident – in unison.

* * *

When they arrived at Citadel Mall – the biggest mall in Colorado Springs – Vala goggled at all the people and all the stores. 

"Is this _heaven_?" she said, looking around with a kid-in-a-candy-store look on her face Daniel couldn't _not_ grin at.

"No," Sam said with a sigh that surprised Daniel. He always supposed her above the female tendency to love shopping. Apparently he was wrong. "But it's close."

Vala was quiet for a while, allowing Sam to take her into Express – where she spurned most of the choices, except for a few black tops and a bright blue patterned pencil skirt that Vala was _sure_ she saw Daniel gape at her when she tried it on – but then she saw Victoria's Secret.

And her mouth dropped open.

And then it closed.

And then she grinned.

"Undergarments," she breathed, tracing her fingers on the glass that separated her from the lacy bustiers and panties. "Sam, we _must_ go in. We simply _must._" She pointed to a red lace outfit that was absolutely _gorgeous_. "I have to have that." It was, in fact, the first piece of undergarments-that-women-wear-that-are-really-for-men that she had liked that _wasn't_ leather.

Okay, so she liked leather. It was multi-purpose and it didn't get bloodstains, which was useful for someone in her line of work.

She saw Daniel's reflection in the storefront's glass stagger back, eyes wide. "Oh no," he said. "I can't- You can't-" He coughed. "I, uh, don't think it would really help anyone work if you, uh, went around with _that_ on." He looked panicked for a second. "Even under your clothes."

She gave him a cheeky grin. "Then it's a good thing I swiped your-" she pulled out a rectangle of plastic from her top and read the text "-MasterCard while you were looking for that book in Borders."

He goggled at her. It was nice to have that twice in one day. "I knew you were feeling me up!" he half-screeched, until he remembered where they were. Passing shoppers were giving him weird looks. "Give that back!" he hissed.

"No," she replied calmly, entering the store. "Now, Sam," she continued, ignoring the archaeologist who followed them under duress, "what was it you called this store?"

"Lingerie store," Sam said, flashing Daniel a quick amused smile over her shoulder. "It's a French word for undergarments."

"Well, you-" Vala paused, remembering the long, long lecture on 'security' and 'classified materials' that she'd gotten before being allowed to leave the base. "You _Americans_ surely do fancy undergarments extraordinarily well." She fingered a hot pink thong and then held it in front of her. "Daniel. What do you think?"

He choked and his eyes bugged out momentarily. "Put. That. Down!" he hissed, grabbing her wrist.

"Now, Daniel, I do think you're overreacting," she said, trying to pry his hand off her arm. "Do stop that right this- Ow, Daniel! That hurts!" She glared at him.

"You alright there, ma'am?" asked a voice from behind her. She turned. He was around Daniel's age and height, but with a haircut rather more like those charming young SFs at the base had. What were they called? Oh yes – buzz cuts. How silly. He gave Daniel a stony look.

"Quite alright, thank you so much," she replied, still prying at Daniel's fingers. His grip was still tight. It really did hurt.

The man wasn't leaving. In fact, he set his bags down on the floor, muttered "Here, let me," to Vala and then grabbed Daniel's wrist with one hand and _squeezed_, causing Daniel to grunt and let go.

"Thank you," Vala said, surprised. "That was very kind." The first kind thing anyone had ever done for her, out of the blue, without knowing who she was. Without her tricking them into it.

"No problem," the man said. He gave Daniel that impenetrable look again and then looked back at Vala to give her a somewhat shy smile. "Have a nice day." With that, he picked up his bags, nodded at them all, and left the store.

"Sorry," Daniel said to Vala. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have done that."

"That's all right, Daniel," she said stiffly and she tried to pretend that she didn't see his face fall a bit. She put the underwear back and strode quickly past Sam, trying not to rub her wrist or look at the red skin that promised soreness in the morning if she didn't heal herself.

She found herself thinking about the mystery man. He was very sweet to her, very chivalrous – she heard the new doctor use that word when remarking on her date the previous night with some new Air Force "jock" as she put it – and, also, _quite_ attractive.

She found herself wishing to see him again.

But Vala Mal Doran was not sentimental.

And she wouldn't start now.


	2. An Inside Look

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**A/N:** I am _so sorry_ for the long wait - I believe it's been over 6 months since I updated this fic. I hope you enjoy this second chapter now that it's here and will stay tuned - can I say that with fanfics? - for the next chapter, which should be out _much sooner_ than next September.

* * *

Daniel's brow was furrowed. "'And in the light of the four hundred and thirtieth milleniu-' OW, Vala!" He turned to glare at her. She had been bouncing a ball off the wall and had aimed a bit more to the left than she should have and it hit him on the back of his head.

"Sorry darling," Vala told him, smiling prettily. The events at the mall had been forgotten over the fishing trip – and what a wonderful trip it had been! – and she had forgiven Daniel.

Much to his chagrin, of course.

"I didn't mean to hit you," she continued, "it's just that I'm so _bored_."

"Find something to do," he growled. "What happened to those things I gave you to translate?" He had very little faith in anything she told him, she found out, and when she told him she could read and write Goa'uld, he passed her some tablets, expecting them to keep her busy all day. (While at the cabin, he'd taught her how to read and write in English, partly out of boredom and desperation to not be hooked into 'fishing,' but mainly because Jack hadn't let him bring any of his manuscripts and it was the closest he could get to a scholarly activity.) Probably making up fake translations, she knew he thought.

She yawned in his face. Or as close as she could get. "Those? Darling, I finished those _hours_ ago." She handed him the sheets of paper that she had carefully written her translations on – even adding notes of her thoughts on the pertinence of the tablets' subjects to present-day events – and took relish in the way his eyes widened.

"This- This is _perfect_ translation," he said. "The context is excellent – it's like you just transcribed them."

"Darling," she told him, in her Reprimanding Voice, "didn't I tell you I can speak Goa'uld? _And_ read it? _And_ write it?"

"Well, yes, but I-" Daniel began.

"So you didn't believe me?" Vala had to hide a smirk as she watched him try to – what was that charming Earth colloquialism? Oh, right – cover his ass. She could practically _hear_ the djar'bags in his head prancing.

If she were hoping for a long-winded explanation, involving much waving of hands and adjusting of glasses (and she was), she was cheated out of it. A minute into the sputtering that preluded his long-winded speeches (that she had grown to adore); he caught sight of the time.

"Oh, I- we have to go," Daniel told her, looking relieved.

"Go?" she asked, nevertheless standing up and donning her (ugly) green SGC jacket. "Why?"

"We have to go meet with the new guy," he said. She could tell he was annoyed at this.

"Darling, aren't I new, too?" He gave her a startled look.

"Well, yeah, but-" he shrugged. "You're different. You're already familiar. Even if I didn't want you to come," he added darkly. "You're here now and so…" he shrugged again. "Plus, Teal'c likes you." She and Teal'c had bonded almost immediately. They now were co-owners of a shiny X-BOX 360 and played _Star Wars: Battlefront_ and _Halo_ one, two, and three obsessively into the night.

She paused long enough to let him think she was going to forgive him before frowning at him and snapping, "Well that was a very reassuring response, Daniel," and flouncing out of his office and towards the briefing room.

Vala counted to five in her head and then heard his steps behind her. "Vala, wait up!" she heard him call, still mildly annoyed, but not enough to let her be mad at him.

"Come along Daniel," she cast over her shoulder, "or we'll be late."

They hurried through the base, and finally arrived at the briefing room, where Jack was folding up a sheet of paper, teaching Teal'c how to make a paper football.

"C'mon Carter," Jack wheedled. "Just this once?" Sam eyed him and then sighed.

"Fine," she said to him. "Just don't expect it _every_ time you make a football." She held her fingers up in a tiny end zone. Jack flicked the football over it and then whooped.

"Touchdown!" He turned to Teal'c to high five him, but the Jaffa merely raised an eyebrow at him. He turned to Sam, who shook her head, laughing at him. Daniel avoided Jack's gaze and sat down, sighing heavily, so only Vala was left. She gave Jack a half-hearted high-five and sat next to Sam.

"So when is this meeting?" she asked the blond woman brightly.

"The _briefing_ was supposed to be two and a half minutes ago," Jack said superiorly. "New guy's late. Black mark on _his_ reputation."

"Indeed," Teal'c said. Vala faintly remembered that Jaffa pride themselves on punctuality.

"Jack," Sam said, exasperated. Vala got the feeling Jack had been talking like this for a little while. "Let's just meet him before we judge, all right? What's his name, anyway?"

Jack shrugged. "Dunno." He raised his hands in defense when Sam glared at him. "I don't! Do you really think I read those things people put on my desk?" She rolled her eyes at him. "Well, it's five after now, New Guy's-" he stopped because the door to Hammond's office opened and the general came through.

"SG-1," he said, in his gruff way, "allow me to introduce you to your new team member, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell." Hammond went on, listing people's names, but Vala didn't hear them.

LtCol Mitchell was her Mystery Man from the mall.

He was the man who had pried Daniel off of her, the man who had been unexpectedly… kind.

Vala couldn't stop herself from staring. The funny thing was, he was staring right back at her.

Hammond motioned at Vala. "And this is Vala Mal Doran." He gave Mitchell an expectant look.

"It's nice to meet all of you," Mitchell said, glancing around at everyone else before zeroing in on Vala again. "And it's _very_ nice to see you again, Vala."

She smiled when he said her name. "The feeling is mutual, I'm sure, Lieutenant Colonel."

Daniel, whose wrist had been sore for a few days after said encounter, just blinked at the man. "I'm sorry, have we met?" It was a perfectly justified question, as every off-base jaunt Vala'd been on was Daniel-supervised.

The man – Cameron – looked his way, examining Daniel's face for a few moments before answering. "Yeah," he said, pulling out the only empty chair, which was next to Teal'c, and sitting down. "At the Citadel mall last week, in Victoria's Secret. You were manhandling the lady here." He nodded at Vala.

Daniel colored, glancing around Sam at Vala, who refused to make eye contact with him. "Um," he said. "Er, well, um, you didn't get the full story- It wasn't really, er…"

"It wasn't _what_, Daniel?" Vala asked, sharply. "It wasn't like you were unhappy with something innocuous that I was doing that wouldn't have harmed you and you were trying to physically force me to stop? Hmm?" She met his gaze and crossed her arms over her chest. "Because it seemed that way to _me._"

"And me," Sam chimed in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jack said, waving his hands around. "Wait just a minute here. Lemme get this straight." He looked at Sam. "You were at Victoria's Secret the first time you went to the mall? And you didn't _tell_ me?"

Sam gave him a stern look. "It _was_ going to be a birthday surprise."

Jack, about to say something sarcastic, paused. And reconsidered. "Well, then, let's move on." He moved his focus to Daniel. "You _manhandled_ our little Vala?" Even Teal'c managed to look appalled.

"He was bruising her wrist," Mitchell put in.

"Look, I said I was sorry!" Daniel burst out. "Vala's forgiven me, and we've moved past it. Can we please talk about something else now?"

General Hammond cleared his throat before Jack could answer Daniel back. "Perhaps you could listen while I tell you what you're going to do today?"

"Yeah, we could do that," Jack said, grinning.

Hammond gave Jack a quelling look before continuing. "_What you're going to do_ is this: Take Colonel Mitchell out and have a nice team night. Get used to each other. Your next mission is in two days. Dismissed." He walked out, muttering something that sounded like "actin' like a bunch of schoolkids."

"So, Colonel Mitchell-" Sam began.

"Call me Cam," he interjected.

"Cam," she said, smiling. "Do you like steak?"

"Ma'am," Cam said, grinning and enunciating his Midwestern drawl, "I surely do."

* * *

Three hours later found them all in a steak joint that was forty-five minutes outside of the base and Vala was wearing a strapless red dress and an expression that said she Absolutely Did Not Understand What Was Wrong With Daniel At All, Honestly.

"I think," she murmured, as they were all chitchatting about what they were to order, "that I shall get – what's this, darling?" Daniel glanced at her menu.

"Filet mignon," he told her.

"Ah, that. How do I like my steak, darling? I just can't remember." She batted her eyelashes at him and he almost went cross-eyed at her, he was glaring so hard.

"Medium rare," he gritted out, "easy on the medium. _Is that your foot_?" he hissed, a blush spreading up from his neck.

"Oh, is that _your_ lap?" she said innocently. "So sorry." The foot moved from him and he turned when he saw Cameron twitch from the corner of his eye. Daniel watched with fascination as Cam's ears turned pink.

Finally, Cameron looked up, first at Daniel, where he gave a good-natured grin (he had heard Daniel out on the ride over about the Mall Incident, and agreed to forget about it) and then on to Vala, where the grin turned into a quite different sort of good nature. "If this is the kinda welcome every new personnel member gets," he said, slouching back in his chair, "then I'm glad I came." Her eyebrow went up at the last word out of his mouth and Daniel swore that he heard her say, "That can be arranged."

Vala looked at the two men seated across from her as she withdrew her foot from Cameron's lap. They were so dissimilar and she was drawn to them both… and yet, in a completely different way than normal.

Oh, you know. _Normal._

As in, How Can I Rob This Person _And_ Get Some Without Them Knowing About The Robbing Part.

Wasn't that normal?

She had distant memories of her mother and father, laughing together, talking, enjoying each other's presences… but that was before her mother died and her father remarried to a shrill-voiced harpy and left to become an intergalactic thief.

Like father, like daughter.

Except, of course, for the married part. While she had been married – several times, in fact – she deemed none of them binding, real marriages. Nothing about those relationships threatened her being. For a moment, she remembered something her mother had told her, long ago, that she hadn't thought of since.

_When you love someone, truly love them, your life feels like it's falling apart and yet glued together. They're so intricately part of you, that without them, you're falling apart at the seams._

No man that she had met had ever made her even consider as a comparison to this long-lost sage advice.

Such deep thought disturbed her, though, so she pushed all semblances of them out of her head and focused on Daniel and Cameron.

* * *

Another three hours after that and they were all stuck in Daniel's loft that, when filled with six people – two of which were dating, three of which were at odds with each other, and one of which was a Jaffa – turned into a tiny, cramped place that felt like Daniel's first not-even-big-enough-to-be-a-studio flat in Cambridge. They were all quarantined there for one reason that, for once, was so big as to be _clearly_ not Vala's fault: a gigantic rainstorm. One that, back in the day of wooden ships, would've been referred to as a ship-killer.

Sam and Jack had flopped down on the sofa, with Teal'c next to them, and were flipping through the TV Guide. Daniel was making sure that the storm's loud thunder-boom things had not jumbled about any of his oh-so-precious artifacts. Vala and Cameron were in the kitchen, looking through the refrigerator.

"What's this?" she half-turned, holding a cold brown-glass bottle, and Cameron's face was caught in the hollow between her neck and her shoulder. She felt his breath on her skin and his nose traced a line straight up her neck until his mouth came to a halt by her ear.

"It's a beer," he murmured. His hand was hovering near her waist and she found that she both did and didn't want him to touch her.

"Beer." For all that it was short and clipped it had a tinge of a question to it, and she turned her head a little more, and then his mouth was right above hers, their breath mingling, and their eyes locked as she said this.

"It's a beverage," his breath was hot and smelt of the wine he'd drunk with dinner. She knew it was wine because she'd asked him, point-blank what cabernet sauvignon was. He'd explained – in patient tones – what it was, how it was made, and where it came from. Daniel had, of course, interjected with tidbits about the history of wine, but his information was curt and annoyed, like he resented soliciting advice to anyone not on a select list. "It's made from grain and it's alcoholic."

"Oh," she breathed, knowing he'd taste the chocolate cake she'd had as a dessert – _postre_, Daniel had said, was Spanish for dessert. He'd told her that because he was explaining the history of chocolate and apparently it had something to do with Spanish monks.

They stood like that for a moment, his hand still hovering near her red-satin covered waist, shaking and hesitant, before she pressed her hand to his shoulder and moved her face forward a fraction of an inch. Their noses brushed and she breathed in sharply, as if shocked.

This was, of course, the moment that Daniel started calling her name in his most irritated tone. She jumped away from Cameron, who gave her a confused look that was quickly followed up by a knowing look as he saw the look she gave Daniel when he entered the small, now cramped, kitchen.

"I found something you might like," Daniel said. "It's kinda like the décor you see in Goa'uld- Is something wrong with you?"

"No, not at all, Daniel," she said, fingers fidgeting around the sweating neck of the brown glass bottle. "Whyever would you ask me that? Or even care about the answer, for that matter." She tried the wrench the cap off the bottle, but it wouldn't come and finally Cameron gently took it away and twisted it off. She took a long drink from it, swallowed, and coughed because it had gotten into her lungs.

Through all of this, Daniel had just stood there, staring dumbly at her. He continued to do so as she stalked out of the kitchen. Only for a moment did she stand in the hall, glancing one direction towards the living room, with the happy people in it, and the other with the door. She immediately took the door, marching towards it and out of it, down the hall and the stairs and into the courtyard in front of Daniel's building. She stood there, not even under the awning, as the rain poured down on top of her.

She heard the door open and close and she turned around, but only after a few moments, when she was sure that no one could tell that she'd been crying.

It would have surprised her, she knew, if it had been Daniel. To no end would it have surprised her. If it had been Cameron, she would have been less surprised and possibly more pleased, and definitely would have seemed hopeful that he'd come to finish what was almost started up in the kitchen. But it wasn't either of them.

It was Teal'c who strode across the wet lawn, holding a giant umbrella – Jack had told her at first that the contraption was called an 'underbella' until Sam elbowed him and Daniel said not to be mean to the alien and informed her of its correct name.

If it had been anyone else, she would have put on a brave face and said she had just needed some fresh air, gone back in and made a big deal about finding some dry towels and sitting around in Daniel's living room mostly naked (under the towel, of course). But it wasn't anyone else.

Which is why she let the much larger man's arms envelop her in a comforting hug and also why she let the tears that were burning her eyes to fall.

When she had first been sought out by Teal'c to go back to the SGC, she knew it was more of a joke that was going to be played on Daniel. But after she'd been granted leave to stay there and become a permanent member of the team, Teal'c had shown up at the door to her quarters, holding an X-BOX (this was before they'd pooled his money and her well-shown-off breasts to "persuade" the cashier to let them have an advance X-BOX 360) and a copy of _Halo_. As this was several hours after Daniel had dropped her off in her quarters so he could go to his own to "catch some winks" as Jack put it, she assumed that it was incredibly late. But she'd let him in and he'd taught her how to use the controllers.

As they were paused in a sudden-death overtime match of the player-versus-player sniper valley-thing, he'd looked at her in that solemn Jaffa way she'd seen millions of times.

"ValaMalDoran," he had said, his eyes locked on hers and his tone absolutely, set-in-stone serious, "being here, on Earth, with the Tau'ri will be hard. At times, they will do things that…" he paused for a moment, "…make absolutely no sense. But if you persevere through their dramatics, they will no doubt prove to be the best, most loyal friends and allies you have ever had." He paused once more, but before he spoke again, she saw a little quirk of his eyebrows, one she'd seen on other Jaffa, but only rarely: it indicated embarrassment. "And, if you ever have need of a "sympathetic ear" as "they" say-" she was fascinated to see him do finger quotes, "-I am here."

And so she stood there, in the pouring rain, letting the Jaffa hug her as she cried. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried, really cried. She supposed it might've been when she had finally been free of Qetesh, but that was overshadowed by the need to survive when the Tok'ra abandoned her, so she couldn't really remember.

After a while – she didn't know exactly how long – they went back inside, where she followed him into the apartment and he showed her the bathroom. She waited there for a few minutes until he came back from pilfering a towel from the linen closet and she took off her red satin sheath once he was gone and the door locked, wrapped the towel around herself, curled up in the bathtub and went to sleep.

Strangely enough, no one commented on her wearing a towel or sleeping in the bathroom – for a moment she suspected Teal'c of telling them what had transpired down in the courtyard, but she dismissed that since offworlders had to stick together. Besides, from the looks Jack and Sam were giving Daniel, it seemed to be generally assumed that whatever had happened, it was Daniel's fault, and therefore he would be punished.

She was served a plate of piping hot beer-pancakes, as Jack proudly dubbed them, and ate them in silence, ignoring the concerned looks Sam kept giving her, the odd looks Jack threw her way, and most especially the indecipherable looks Daniel kept having whenever he glanced at her. She didn't know what Cameron looked like because, well, first of all, he wasn't looking at her, and second of all, he was sitting right beside her. Teal'c was the only one she made lasting eye contact with and his solitary nod reassured her immensely and, she was amused to see, caused Jack to hit Daniel upside the back of his head which in turn caused Sam and Cameron to snort into their beer pancakes.

As Sam and Cameron cleared the table, Jack and Daniel were in the kitchen and if they thought they were being quiet, well… they were a lot stupider than she'd thought.

"What the _hell_ did you do to her?" they all heard Jack yell. "Can't you be nice for _one night_?"

"I didn't do anything!" Daniel protested. "All I did was ask if something was wrong with her!"

"Well, obviously you did _something_ wrong," Jack retorted, "since she hasn't said two words since she came back from wherever the hell she went! Can't you see she _genuinely_ likes you? Or are you so closed off that no one you haven't known for years can reach you?"

At this point, Vala closed her eyes and wished she were slightly more deaf and possibly on a different planet. But when the cool, strong, and calloused fingers of Cameron Mitchell closed around hers, her eyes popped open involuntarily and she turned to look at him, surprised. He was staring at her, a knowing expression on his face. It was concerned, comforting. It was _kind_, just like he'd been when she'd seen him the first time.

Oh no, she thought. Sentimentality. I can't. I mustn't. I have to be strong.

But all that resolve to be the strong, brightly cheerful, completely walled-off Vala disappeared when he held his hands out, palms up, and arms spread and said two words.

"Come here."

And she did. She let him hold her, the sound of his heartbeat drowning out everything else.

Maybe Vala Mal Doran could do sentimental.

Maybe.


	3. Oh No She Didn't

"And what do I do with this, exactly?" Vala asked, eyebrows raised, as she looked at the brown-plastic-covered object in her hands.

"It's an MRE," Daniel said, already ripping his open from his place sprawled against a tree. (That particular sort of tree, she knew, was prone to shedding seedpods like it was the season's change and the leaves were coming down. She was seated against a rock, with Cameron Mitchell beside her.) "You eat it."

"What, like this?" Her eyes widened, completely surprised.

There was a soft chuckling from beside her. "No," Cameron said, "you open it. And then you eat what's inside." He eyed her package. "You've got spaghetti with meat sauce. Now me, I'm partial to the beef ravioli, though the spaghetti's almost as good." He showed her what to do and in two minutes she was happily chewing the sub-standard spaghetti – even the food in the commissary was better – as Cameron told her about the MREs he'd eaten.

"Darling," she said, her head lolling on Cameron's shoulder, "what does MRE mean? Is it similar to MRS?" Daniel choked on his Chicken Pesto and Pasta when she said "MRS."

"No," Cameron drawled, "no it's not. MRE means meal ready to eat. MRS is how you spell missus, which is what married women are called."

Now, normally, this would've been a splendid opportunity for Daniel to jump in and give the history of the word 'Missus' and how it had degenerated from 'Mistress' and be condescending to both of them from his Cloud of Scholar-ness. Instead of that, he just kept being sulky, prodded his food with his fork, and glared at it when it squelched.

She wished she could ask Jack or Sam, or Teal'c what was going on, but the team had split into two groups: one to go gather intel (Jack, Sam, Teal'c) and one to study the "interesting-looking ruins" the plane-scanner thing had seen. So far, nothing was interesting and everything was very ruin-y. And she had discovered that Cameron had an excellent sense of humor and that she was more turned by Cameron brushing the back of her neck with his nose and whispering in her ear than she had been by anything else in years.

She also found out that whenever this did happen, and she giggled aloud, she'd look up to see Daniel giving her a very indecipherable look. The first time she saw him do it, she thought he was jealous, but upon further thought, she cast that into the realm of "Probably Not Going To Happen Unless Humanity Depends On It, And Only Then Under Much Protest." Then again, he did actually _growl_ when she put her sleeping back next to Cameron's.

Vala wished she could go with her gut instincts about Daniel – since her gut was rarely wrong, especially concerning men – but Daniel was different. There were normal men and then there was Daniel. With him it was as if it were a game, but it was your life at stake and he wasn't going to tell you the rules and there was only two minutes left. She felt confused and tossed around by him, which didn't seem fair since she was always the one to make men feel that way about her.

Thankfully, the mission went quietly – except for the staff blasts that followed their mad dash to the gate after their rendezvous with the other three.

()()()()

One morning, the day after the newly-adjusted SG-1's fourteenth mission together, Vala skipped down to Daniel's lab. He'd gotten a new (or old, really) artifact from SG-12 and had requested her help with some of the translations.

Daniel had quickly realized – even in his prolonged sulky mood, which no one would elaborate as to why he was that way – that Vala was a quick learner. Extraordinarily fast, actually. She read and spoke Goa'uld better than Teal'c and could multiply four-digit numbers in her head. So he acted swiftly, not even waiting to be prompted by Jack, and started to teach her Latin as a precursor to Ancient. She was taking to it like a fish to water and always asked him for extra things to read or translate in her quarters, even when he was ready to quit.

Most things about Vala surprised people. She could fight with a staff, though not as well as Teal'c; was proficient in math, despite her dislike of it; and had an unquenchable desire of knowledge of, well, _everything._ Her surroundings, the history of the Tau'ri, and gossip magazines. Everything held interest for her, and she was constantly asking questions about anything she was curious about.

Usually around three o'clock, Cameron would come in and drag Vala off to lunch. But one day, Daniel looked up and noticed it was three-fifteen and the other man was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Cam?" He looked over at her. Vala was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest with a Goa'uld tablet balanced on them, a notepad and paper next to her.

"He had to go to some conference," she said, making a note on the pad. "Something to do with… pilot skills, connections, and I believe that they're giving him a medal, though General Hammond told me not to tell him that." She looked up at him. "Why? Did you need him, terribly?"

Daniel shook his head and, about to go back to work, suddenly blurted out, "No. You just always go to lunch with him, and I was wondering why not today." He could tell he caught her by surprise because her wide blue eyes actually looked faintly shocked and innocent.

"Really." She tilted her head minutely. "So you do care, Daniel."

"I never said I didn't!" He winced as his words echoed back in his head. He sounded far too defensive.

Her lips grew thin and she placed the tablet carefully down on the desk and then crossed her arms. "Of course, you never _say_ anything you're feeling, Daniel."

"Who told you that?"

She shrugged. "Is it important? I would've figured it out anyway. I'm not here to play _games_, Daniel. I've already played enough of those in my life, and in other people's." Vala's eyes hardened and she looked away from him, over his shoulder at the picture of Sha're. "I mean, it would be cruel for me to come in and mess around with you, Daniel, especially after you lost your wife."

"Do _not_ say anything about my wife! You don't know anything about her – you have no right to discuss this!" His knuckles were white and his nails broke the skin of his palm, his hands were clenched so tightly.

She glanced at him for a second and then looked back. "It must have been hard," she said, hugging herself, "losing your wife like that." She paused. "To a Goa'uld."

His teeth were grinding together and he knew he'd have a headache later. "Shut _up_."

She blinked and a tear fell out of her eye. "We've all lost people, Daniel." Now Vala looked him full in the eyes as she spoke to him, voice steady though her eyes were filling. "I lost my youth, my innocence." She glanced away, and then back. "And, the reason I came here? I lost my daughter." Giving a short, humorless bark of laughter, she went on, "In another galaxy, actually. Isn't that funny? To people with powers, powers I've never seen before. They scared me, Daniel. So I came to find your people, who have fought the Goa'uld unlike anyone ever had before."

Vala stood, still hugging herself. She wasn't looking at him, though, and he barely heard her voice. "So that's my sob story, Daniel. You may have lost your wife, but I lost two people: the woman I could have been and the only piece of my heart I can't take back."

"You- you lost your daughter?" His voice cracked as he said this and she turned around.

"Yes," she said. He knew she was telling the truth. Underneath it all – his distrust of her and her constant shielding and misdirection – he always knew when she was speaking the truth. There was something about her eyes, he thought as he stepped towards her, wiping his bloody palms on the seat of his pants. She couldn't lie to him.

He put his hands on her shoulders and started to draw her to his chest and for a moment she let him.

Then she wrenched out of his grasp, let out "_No_, Daniel," and dashed out.

She wouldn't open her door to him when he tried to talk to her that night.

The next morning, he saw her smile at Cameron.

He felt his heart ache, and that surprised him. It hadn't felt that way in…

Years.


End file.
